Leeward Investments LLC MA Buys 60,370 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Leeward Investments LLC MA grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 28.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 269,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 60,370 shares during the quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $8,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,764,000. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 85,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,721,000 after acquiring an additional 2,069 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 98,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,121,000 after acquiring an additional 4,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 40,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP opened at $34.32 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $32.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.35. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $34.39.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

CenterPoint Energy, Inc operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Electric and Natural Gas. The Electric segment includes electric transmission and distribution services to electric customers and electric generation assets, as well as optimizes assets in the wholesale power market.